Tis: We've lost one, but we move on."

Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale is keen for his players to bounce back against Crewe Alexandra next week after a narrow 1-0 defeato Mansfield Town at St James Park.

The Grecians fell behind to a Danny Rose goal in the first half and were unable to find a way back into the match. On a tough pitch, the Mansfield defence did well to protect their lead despite City throwing a lot of aerial pressure at Steve Evans’ side late on.

Following the match, Tis said: “Really difficult conditions, they started better than us and got a goal and the first goal is so important here. We just couldn’t get it back.

“They were the better side in the first half, there’s a long way to go in the season and we weren’t at our best today.

“We put another practical setup in place, to play the opponent, play the pitch, play the conditions and we’ve done that regularly and come out on top. Ok, we’ve lost one, but we move on.”

Tis made two changes at the break with Hiram Boateng and Ryan Harley coming on as City looked for a way back into the match.

He continued: “We needed to do something, we had to change the flow of it. I wouldn’t have done it if we were a goal up, we were a goal down and I had to change something.”

Looking at the bigger picture Tis added: “There are 15 games to go, our job is to look at those games and look at how many of those that we need to win and to get about it.

"Everyone is very downbeat, everyone is searching for as many negatives as they can find. We’ve lost a game of football, that’s the way it is, on to the next game. Keep working, keep trying because there are plenty of points at stake.”

City now go into a busy week with a midweek trip to Crewe Alexandra before they go to Grimsby Town next Saturday. Despite coming up against sides who are lower down in the table, Tis is taking nothing for granted as his side look to get back to winning ways.

He said: “I’m not going to fall into the trap of thinking we’ve got easy points because teams are down the lower end of the table. It’s three points at stake, every team wants to win, it’s important to everybody, including us. We will do our best on Tuesday and Saturday and whatever comes at us in the next few weeks.”